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The book publication sector in Greece is characterized by the large
number of enterprises in the business of book publication and
importing, a survey by ICAP said on Monday.

The survey noted that the small size of most enterprises in the
business offered flexibility and specialization but also created
problems such as reduced liquidity.

The book publication market is widely open, with larger enterprises in
the sector presenting only limited market shares. A total of 730
publishers were active in the Greek market in 2006, up from 374 in
1996. ICAP stressed, however, that larger enterprises were increasingly
strengthening their position in the market at the expense of small and
medium sized publishers.

Book prices grew by 4.5 pct in the 1995-2006 period, while the number
of new book titles rose by 9.0 percent in 2006 compared with the
previous year. ICAP said the Greek book market's value grew by 8.8 pct
in 2005 and by 8.9 pct in 2006.

A fire that broke out alongside the Kareas ring road and the Hymettus
orbital highway at around 15:00 on Monday appears to be subsiding,
according to the latest reports from the fire brigade at around 18:00.

Fire-fighters said that the strong winds that were blowing in the area
earlier in the afternoon had died down, assisting their efforts to get
the fire under control, but stressed that strong fire-fighting forces
would remain to ensure that it did not flare up again.

The fire broke out at around 15:00 on Monday near the Kessariani
junction on the Kareas ring road and was quickly fanned to large
dimensions by strong winds blowing in the area, forcing traffic to halt
in both directions on the Hymettus orbital highway.

The fire broke out for unknown reasons just beneath the Hymettus
orbital road and quickly spread over a large distance along its length,
while it was not far from residential areas.

A strong force of 30 firefighters with ten fire engines was initially
sent to battle the blaze, assisted by three firefighting airplanes and
three helicopters. Additional reinforcements were quickly sent in, led
by the chief of the fire brigade Andreas Kois, in a bid to get the fire
under control before it grew even further.

Taking part in the fire-fighting effort were six aircraft, three
helicopters, 60 firemen with 20 fire engines and a 50-strong force of
fire-fighters on foot, while more reinforcements were arriving
constantly.

The Katechaki ring road was closed to traffic from Pindos Street and
from the Kessariani junction on the other side, where traffic was being
diverted, while traffic was forbidden to go up Ethnikis Antistaseos
Road.

Meanwhile, at least two more large blazes have been reported around the
country, one on the island of Evia and another near a village in
Lamia.